Antonio TAJANI, EP President makes a statement on the state of play of the Brexit regarding the situation of UK and EU citizens.

Brussels

TAJANI, Antonio (EPP, IT)

Brexit (T)

article 50 of the Lisbon treaty (T)

statement

Statement by Antonio TAJANI, EP President on the state of play of the Brexit regarding the situation of UK and EU citizens

SOUNDBITE (English), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, For the European Parliament to defend the right of European citizens who live in the UK is a priority. It is also a priority to protect the British citizens living in the European Union. For the European Parliament, this is a priority. Of course we want a deal but also without a deal the engagement of the European parliament on this problem will be very strong. Tomorrow, in front of the European Council, I will underline this point, because for us, this is the priority number one.  

SOUNDBITE (English), Dimitri SCARLATO, Representative of Italian citizens living in the UK, We are really pleased that President Tajani agreed to meet us today, ahead of the EU Council. We are really worried of the consequences of a No-Deal, this is why we are really stressing the importance of safeguarding citizens' rights, to safeguard the Europeans in the UK and the British in Europe and possibly also to make sure that our rights in case of No-Deal are safeguarded and we can keep living as we lived before.

SOUNDBITE (English), Thomas Jeremy MORGAN, Representative of UK citizens living in Italy and Europe, We too from British in Europe and British in Italy would like to thank President Tajani for having met us and for expressing his support for the protection of citizens' rights. But the one thing, the only way in which they can be protected in the event of No-Deal is by having an international treaty under Article 50 to protect these rights. And a very simple way of doing that is to take out the citizens rights part of the agreement, which has already been negotiated, which is not controversial and make that the only agreement under Article 50, if a wider agreement is not possible. Of course we support a wider agreement and of course we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Irish and their concern about the border there. This has nothing to do with that. This is simply saying, this is the contingency plan that has to be made now to protect citizens' rights.

Handshake between President Tajani and citizens representatives